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. 1971 Jun;21(6):1036–1039. doi: 10.1128/am.21.6.1036-1039.1971

R/B Enteric Differential System for Identification of Enterobacteriaceae

P B Smith 1, D L Rhoden 1, Karla M Tomfohrde 1, C R Dunn 1, A Balows 1, G J Hermann 1
PMCID: PMC377338  PMID: 4935490

Abstract

The R/B Enteric Differential System for identifying enteric bacteria has been evaluated with 451 “unknown” cultures from the stock culture collection of the Center for Disease Control. An average of 89.6% of these cultures were correctly identified by the R/B system, when used as recommended by the manufacturer but without the assistance of serology. This percentage ranged, however, from 47% for Klebsiella to 100% for Serratia and Providencia. Of 11 groups or genera of Enterobacteriaceae tested, only three (Enterobacter, Serratia, and Providencia) were identified with 95% or better accuracy. Four groups (Arizona, Citrobacter, Escherichia, and Salmonella) attained 90 to 95% accuracy of identification, and three groups (Edwardsiella, Proteus, and Shigella) scored between 85 and 90% accuracy. We recommend the R/B system as a screening device which is reasonably successful in grouping bacteria but not as a substitute for more exacting conventional procedures.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Martin W. J., Birk R. J., Yu P. K., Washington J. A., 2nd Identification of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae by the R-B system. Appl Microbiol. 1970 Dec;20(6):880–883. doi: 10.1128/am.20.6.880-883.1970. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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